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EarthRights International combines the power of law and the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment.
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In The Spotlight
Indigenous Activists in Peruvian Amazon Stand Up Against Government and Extractive Industries
The Peruvian congress this week voted to repeal  the legislative decrees 1090 and 1064, which would have opened up the country’s Amazon territory to increased mining, oil, gas and hydropower development.  The controversial laws were passed to implement a free trade agreement with the US. For more than two months, indigenous groups from the Peruvian Amazon have been protesting the government’s attempts to exploit natural resources found on their territories. After securing a reversal off the laws, leading indigenous groups have called off the protests.

In The Spotlight
Korean Government Fails to Investigate Korean Corporations’ Involvement in Abuses in Burma
June 15, 2009, Bangkok, Thailand – The Korean government is failing to hold Korean corporations accountable for abuses connected to natural gas development in military ruled Burma, according to a report released today by EarthRights International (ERI) and the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM).

The report, entitled A Governance Gap: The Failure of the Korean Government to Hold Korean Corporations Accountable to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises Regarding Violations in Burma, calls on the OECD Investment Committee to use its authority and mandate to address conflicts and inconsistencies within the Korean NCP and among National NCPs. Read more.

Read the report.

Related News: DVB | AFP | Irrawady

In The Spotlight
VICTORY!!: Wiwa v Shell Human Rights Case Settlement Announced
Ken Saro-Wiwa New York, June 8, 2009 —  The parties in Wiwa v. Shell have agreed to settle human rights claims charging the Royal Dutch/Shell company, its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC or Shell Nigeria), and the former head of its Nigerian operation, Brian Anderson, with complicity in the torture, killing, and other abuses of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and other non-violent Nigerian activists in the mid-1990s in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta. (Read More)

In The Spotlight
Reports, Resistance, and Resolutions Make Chevron Shareholders Question Oil Giant’s Vitality
May 28, 2009, San Ramon, CA – Chevron shareholders were given a full account of the true costs of Chevron’s global operations by a delegation of representatives of Chevron affected communities from the across the nation and around the world. Outside supporters filled the entryway, closing Chevron’s front gate with a vibrant rally. Representatives from Nigeria, Ecuador, Richmond and the Philippines, were joined inside by those representing communities from Burma, Kazakhstan, Iraq and Alberta to present to shareholders an alternative annual report, The True Cost of Chevron. “Chevron chose to turn a deaf ear to the communities who bear the crippling consequences of its operations,” said Paul Donowitz of EarthRights International. “Chevron’s complicity in human rights abuses in Burma, the billions in project revenues flowing to the brutal Burmese military junta who use these profits to oppress their own people are more evidence that this is a company that cares for only one thing – its bottom line.”

Read the full text of the press release > >

Related News: Houston Chronicle | CNNMoney | Washington Post | San Francisco Chronicle | Matador Change | Huffington Post

In The Spotlight
Guest Teachers Provide Invaluable Skills, Knowledge, and Networking Opportunities
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Many of the teachers and trainers delivering courses at the EarthRights School of Burma are members of the School’s own staff, or come from other ERI programs to share their expertise in campaigning, law, or organizational development. But sometimes the School and its students also benefit from an incredible pool of educators from diverse backgrounds and from all over the world.

In The Spotlight
ERI Files Submission with UK Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights
Barriers to Access for Justice for Victims of Human Rights Abuses Outlined

May 1, 2009 - Today, EarthRights International filed a submission to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee for Human Rights detailing recommendations on how to improve access to justice in UK courts for people who allege abuses of human rights by UK companies operating abroad. In responding to the Joint Committee’s request for submissions, EarthRights staff consulted with UK public interest and human rights lawyers to learn about the barriers to effective litigation on behalf of human rights plaintiffs in the UK. 

EarthRights recommends that the UK Government:

  1. establish clear legal principles to attribute abuses by subsidiaries and third parties to their UK parents and partners
  2. permit “opt-out” class action suits in the case of gross human rights violations
  3. ease financial barriers that deter plaintiffs and their counsel from bringing human rights cases in the UK

Learn more about the evidence submitted by EarthRights and other organizations > >
Read the full submission to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee for Human Rights > >

In The Spotlight
Getting it Wrong: Total, the Yadana Gas Pipeline, and a CSR Misadventure in Burma
A book released this week, Getting it Right: Making Corporate–Community Relations Work (Greenleaf Publishing) by Mary Anderson and Luc Zandvliet of CDA Collaborative Learning Project (CDA), is intended as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) guide for corporate managers of multinational companies operating in poor, unstable countries. It is based on CDAs experience working primarily for extractive companies operating in the developing world, including working with the French oil giant Total on the notorious Yadana gas project in Burma. EarthRights International (ERI) is concerned this publication, along with the numerous reports CDA has published on the Yadana pipeline in Burma, have mislead investors, corporations, policymakers, and other interested parties on the actual conditions in the pipeline region. A Summer 2009 forthcoming report by ERI, based on over 15 years of ERI’s work in the Yadana pipeline area, will expose CDA’s flawed methodology, inaccurate reporting, and the misuse of their findings by the Yadana companies in an effort to justify their continued presence in Burma.

Training: We train emerging human rights and environmental leaders to defend and promote earth rights at our EarthRights Schools. Legal: We use litigation and other legal mechanisms to hold corporations and governments accountable for human rights and environmental abuses. Campaigns: We organize advocacy campaings to expose earth rights violations worldwide and protect earth rights legal mechanisms.
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